


I Can't Stop Loving You (I'm Serious)

by namjoonfucker420



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: 18 year old gon and killua, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight, Pining, Yorkshin City | Yorknew City (Hunter X Hunter), leorio and knuckle are roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:07:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24236254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namjoonfucker420/pseuds/namjoonfucker420
Summary: “Anyway, I’m glad to see you! Man, I bet Gon’ll be glad to know you’re in the city!"Gon.He’s actually at Heaven’s arena right now! He’s working his way up to the 240th floor so he can challenge Zushi. He’s a floor master now. Youngest one ever! Pretty cool, right?”Gon’s here. In Yorknew.Fuck.Of course, the possibility that Gon was in the city hadn’t left his mind for one moment, whether he liked it or not. But he’d tried to suppress the thought and the accompanying emotions, and he had been doing a pretty bang-up job up until that moment. But as soon as his name left Leorio’s mouth, every emotion he had been so dutifully suppressing exploded all at once.*    *    *AKA the boys get reunited in Yorknew city after five long years with the help of some friends.
Relationships: Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck
Comments: 10
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

Killua didn’t know what he was expecting on his first day back in Yorknew City, but it sure as shit wasn’t this. He‘d been trekking halfway across the world on an assignment. All he knew was something about someone who was stirring up trouble in Yorknew, and the association wanted someone to go check it out. So here he was, prowling the streets in search of someone that was moronic enough to catch the attention of the hunters.

Imagine his surprise when he found someone that fit the bill within his first couple hours in Yorknew. He had been walking down a large bustling street, heading towards the section of the city where his target had reportedly been most active when he heard him. He turned a corner to peer into the only shadowy alley on the otherwise well lit and sunny street. He immediately noticed the smell emanating from the piles of garbage bags, presumably food trash from the surrounding restaurants. He honed in on the source of the sound, a large man wearing all white hunched over a dirty, beat up cardboard box, quietly talking to the small black and white kitten it housed. 

“Heeeeey little guy! What shitty basta- I mean, bad guy left you back here? He better hope I don’t see him or he’s gonna get a beatin-- a stern talking to! Let’s get you out of here, my apartment’s just around the corner. I’m glad I found ya, who knows what kinda creeps are living around here!” He scooped up the little creature after letting it sniff his fingers, cradling it gently in one hand.

Knuckle Bine was not the moron he was looking for. Before Killua could back out of the alley and continue on his search, Knuckle stood up and almost fell back down when he spotted the familiar fluffy head.

“Killua is that you?!” he shouted for nearly the whole block to hear. Killua tried to turn and leave, but with a couple bounding strides Knuckle had reached him and grabbed his shoulder with his free hand. He gave him an excited, slightly frantic look before covering the kitten’s ears and whispering, “Holy shit, is that really you?” 

He uncovered the kitten’s ears and said, “Sorry, I just don’t like letting ‘em hear me curse, I think it scares ‘em.” 

Killua shook his head slightly in amused disbelief. _Well at least Knuckle will always be Knuckle. What a dumbass._

He started to walk away again, and instead of stopping him, Knuckle just took it upon himself to walk beside him. 

“Maaaan Killua, where’ve ya been? No one’s heard from ya since the chairman election five years ago! Why didn’t you text anyone? Or call? Or jeez, even write a letter? I’m normally not a letter writin’ kinda guy, but I don’t mind being pen pals with you!” 

“Sorry Knuckle, but you know how my family is. I’ve been trying to stay under the radar because of Alluka, so communicating with anyone would be a death sentence for both parties.”

“Ah, Killua, ya know I’m not mad, we were just worried about ya. Me and Leorio were talking about ya just the other day!” Killua stopped in his tracks, almost knocking out the poor guy who was walking behind he and Knuckle.

“You and WHO?” he yelped, his jaw hanging slack in shock. “How do you even know Leorio?” The more Killua thought about it, the more he knew that duo would be a perfect pair of buddies, despite how scared the thought made him. 

“Yeah, Leorio! He’s great, he’s a real Florence Nightingale! He healed me up after I had a run in with a giant boar one time, and we’ve been fast friends since! Shoot’s been gone searching for this really rare frog, so me and Leorio have even been rooming together these days!” _Oh my god. What does an apartment housing those two even look like?_ He imagined a small space filled with animals of every size; walls covered with posters of nearly naked women leaning on cars. He chose not to imagine the smell. 

“Well that sounds… fun,” he said, still a little disturbed by the thought of those two in a room together. At this point he knew he wasn’t getting rid of Knuckle any time soon, so he led them to a nearby stoop so they could actually talk.

“Anyway, what’re ya doing in Yorknew? Hunter stuff? Ya have an assignment here?”

“Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I’m here on an assignment.” He told him the little he knew, and they ended up exchanging stories of their lives in the past five years, punctuated by the small kitten meowing occasionally to get their attention for pets. Knuckle had been all over the world, both by himself and on assignments with Shoot, and he said he had even found a new species of bear in the northern wilderness. It turns out being a hunter never gets less chaotic. Since Killua’s burner would still be safe for a little while longer they exchanged numbers. Eventually Knuckle just invited him to come over to his place, since it was getting late. They soon arrived at a rather nice looking building. Knuckle buzzed them in, grinning as he did so.

“Being a hunter has its benefits, yanno. Like the income,” he said with a wink.

They rode up to the 31st floor together, and then Killua followed Knuckle right into the wrong apartment. Or at least he assumed that it was the wrong one, because why else would it look so… normal? It even smelled pretty normal. Despite his urge to protest that they shouldn’t be walking into a stranger’s apartment, Killua let Knuckle close the door behind them. 

“It’s nothing special, but it’s home!”

“Is it really?” Killua muttered quietly.

“What was that?”

“What? Nothing,” he snickered.

“Yanno, I almost didn’t recognize ya when I first spotted ya! Ya got a lot taller! Still pretty lanky though, and ya still got all that hair!”

“Well my hair’s not going anywhere any time soon,” Killua said, leaning against the doorframe, waiting for a dog to jump out and start licking his face. Now that he mentioned it, he supposed Knuckle didn’t seem quite so larger than life. He was pretty much eye to eye with the man now. 

“Where are all the… uh… animals?” Killua said, looking apprehensively around the corners of the room.

“Oh, well I’ve got a cat around here somewhere. Name’s Netty.” At that moment, a slightly disgruntled looking fluffy gray cat came stalking into the room, presumably at the sound of his name. He brushed up against Killua’s legs, asking to be pet. Killua obliged as Knuckle said, “I still collect strays I find around the city, but I don’t usually keep them. I have a rescue shelter set up that takes care of them and finds them homes,” he smiled fondly at the now sleeping kitten who he had yet to set down. _I guess that explains the lack of a smell…_

“And Leorio?” Killua didn’t have to wonder for long, because Leorio was about just as easy to summon as Netty was. A man who looked maybe even more disgruntled than the cat, dressed only in slightly too small pants, came stumbling out of a door to the left. 

“Knuck, what’s with the racket, I was trying to get an early night’s slee-” He cut himself off, rubbing his eyes with balled fists, his glasses crookedly lifting. “Where did you find the Killua look-alike, he’s way too tall.”

“Leorio, you moron, it’s me.”

“Who?” Leorio blinked once, twice.

“It’s me. Killua. I would hope I’ve gotten taller, it’s been five years after all.”

“You’re kidding.” He paused, stilling for only a moment. “WHERE’VE YOU BEEN!” he thundered, closing the gap between them to give Killua the most suffocating and sweatiest hug of his life. “We missed you dude! Even though you can be an annoying little brat, doesn’t mean I don’t want you around any less! I wanna know what you’ve been up to! I get that you probably had to stay off grid for Alluka’s sake, but still! Man, have I got some stories for you. Being a doctor for hunters will get you seeing some crazy shit like you wouldn’t believe” 

“Try me,” Killua said, rolling his eyes with the utmost love. 

Leorio held the boy at shoulder’s length, staring at him for a moment before releasing him. 

“Yep, definitely still a brat!” He said, almost _too_ happily. Killua moved to sit on the large couch in the corner of the ambiently lit room. 

“Where’s Alluka at?”

“Well right now she’s following Bisky around, training to take the hunter exam so she can become a stone hunter just like her dear Bisky-chama. Did you ever meet Bisky?”

“Don’t think so, but I’ve heard the name. ‘Cute little girl, stone hunter, vicious attitude?’”

“Yeah, that’s right. Minus the cute part,” Killua snickered, “Only she describes herself that way. Anyone who really knows her would say otherwise.”

Leorio nodded amiably, sitting down next to Killua.

“Anyway, I’m glad to see you! Man, I bet Gon’ll be glad to know you’re in the city!” 

_Gon._

He’s actually at Heaven’s arena right now! He’s working his way up to the 240th floor so he can challenge Zushi. He’s a floor master now. Youngest one ever! Pretty cool, right?”

_Gon’s here. In Yorknew._

_Fuck._

Of course, the possibility that Gon was in the city hadn’t left his mind for one moment, whether he liked it or not. But he’d tried to suppress the thought and the accompanying emotions, and he had been doing a pretty bang-up job up until that moment. But as soon as his name left Leorio’s mouth, every emotion he had been so dutifully suppressing exploded all at once. Killua stood.

Killua walked towards the door. He needed to go. He wasn’t sure if he needed to go towards or away from heaven’s arena, but he needed to leave now. The unnecessarily large space was feeling smaller with each passing second. Knuckle stood up from the chair facing them, nearly knocking the sleeping kitten off of his lap before he scooped it up. “Dude, where ya goin’? Ya just got here! Gon can wait!”

“Sorry I- I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later”

“Ok man, just keep us in the loop! I’ve got your number now so there’s no way you’re not hearing from me!” 

_Unless I drop this burner and get a new one._

He wasn’t going to do that, but he entertained the thought for a moment. As much as he knew he needed to drop all contact, it had still hurt not being able to talk to them for so long. He missed Leorio’s slightly overbearing (but much needed) parenting, and Knuckle’s tendency to give motherly advice under the guise of manly man mottos. He missed Kurapika too, but unfortunately he was out on an assignment. Leorio said he hadn’t seen much of him lately, but that they had still been keeping in contact.

As soon as he hit the pavement outside he started running. Just thinking about Gon had built up so much electricity in his body that he had to use Godspeed for about 10 blocks to dispel the excess. He finally slowed down when he spotted the outskirts of what looked like a pretty large park that meant his hotel would be just across the street.

 _Gon, huh._ He didn’t even know where to start with the tornado in his mind right now. 

_Should I go see him?_

Ok, well of course he should go see him, but. 

Could he? Would he be able to handle it? Or would every Gon-deprived moment in the past 5 years come rushing back all at once and suffocate him? Every time he had done something cool and couldn’t brag to Gon; every time he saw something funny and couldn’t laugh with Gon; every time he had felt alone and truly was; would it kill him when what he had been missing all this time would be in front of him again? It kinda felt like it would. 

He hadn’t even realized he was back in his hotel room by the time he was passing out on the oversized bed. 

_I wonder if he misses me._

He dozed off into a fitful slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kil goes to to a match at Heaven's Arena.

“What? Today?” 

Killua sat back on the couch he’d grown familiar with over the past few weeks. He’d been waiting on news to come back from an informant the association had sent out to watch for their target, but information had been slow. Whoever this guy was, he was one sneaky bastard. While he waited, he had been spending more and more time with Leorio and Knuckle. He loved Alluka to death, and Bisky… [ **redacted** ] but it was nice to be able to hang out with other guys for a change.

“Yeah bro, you had to know it was gonna take him no time at all to make it up to Zushi’s floor! After he got his nen back, no one could get him to stop training! The little guy’s so damn strong!” Leorio paused. “Well, I guess he’s not so little anymore. You might not believe your eyes when you see him!” Leorio remarked from his position in front of the stove. Killua struggled to picture a Gon that wasn’t an inch shorter than him, and somehow he came away with the image of Ging wearing Gon’s signature green outfit. _Well that’s disgusting. Time to stop thinking._ As he struggled to shake away that thought, the smell of frying eggs wafted in his direction, making his stomach rumble.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“So you’re coming with Knuckle and I right? I haven’t gotten the chance to tell Gon yet, so it’ll be a great surprise!” _Right, that sounds like a great idea. Hey Gon, so it’s been five years with no contact and now we’re both grown up. Here I am. Surprise! Hope you’re not disappointed to see me!_ Killua thought that actually sounded like a terrible idea.

“Uh… yeah… I think I might pass.” The thought of seeing Gon at this point was making Killua slightly physically ill. One nonchalant ‘Killua is the best!’ from Gon and he might actually pass out.

At that moment, Knuckle barged into the kitchen, tailed closely by the little kitten from before. 

“What the hell do you mean dude? Of course you’re coming with us!” Knuckle yelled, sounding slightly more angry than what Killua would’ve considered reasonable.

“I dunno man. I doubt he wants to see me anyway.” Leorio looked pointedly at Killua, doing some kind of weird eyebrow gesturing that Killua assumed he was supposed to understand but didn’t. After about ten seconds more of that, Leorio finally just sighed and gave up on his attempt at facial sign language.

“Of course he wants to see you dude, he talks about you like every time we see him.”

“He- huh?”

“You were best friends! You went through some fucked up shit together!” At this, Knuckle coughed loudly, covering the ears of his foster kitten. Leorio just stared at him before sighing.

“As I was _saying_ , of course he misses you! So you’re going to see him with us, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.”

Killua scoffed outwardly, screaming inwardly. “Whatever, oldhead. If you’re not giving me a choice, then...”

“Who’re ya calling oldhead, ya brat!” Leorio said, grinning smugly. He set a plate of eggs down on the table in front of Killua. “That’s what I thought. We’re leaving in an hour.” _I hate this guy._

Killua spent the next hour absentmindedly washing dishes. _Maybe I should bring him something. An apology gift for not contacting him for so long. It’s not like I did it because I didn’t want to see him, but still._ His soapy hand momentarily stopped scrubbing the already long clean pan. _Is that lame? Ok, yeah, maybe that’s lame._ He knew he was overthinking everything, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop his brain once it got to thinking about Gon. He almost dropped a plate while pointedly not thinking about Gon, but thanks to his electric reflexes he was able to catch it, earning only a knowing look from Leorio.

* * *

The arena was packed, even more so than he remembered it being. All around he heard excited chatter about the upcoming fight. 

“ _Oh-em-gee_ , so of course both Zushi and Gon are good fighters, but more importantly, who do you think is hotter?” Killua’s head snapped towards the source of the voice; two girls to his left who were idly gossiping. 

“Hm, well now that you mention it, Zushi is pretty cute. He’s got that whole ‘boy next door’ vibe going on, y’know.”

“You’re right, but I said who’s _hotter_?”

“Well when you put it like that, you already know the answer. There’s just something about Gon that’s so….” The second girl hummed appreciatively with a wiggle of her eyebrows, “sexy.”

Killua’s jaw almost hit the floor. _The Gon I know? Sexy?_ He let out a strangled laugh before slapping his hand over his mouth, looking around to see if anyone had heard the choked sound. The two girls barely gave him a second glance, but Knuckle peered at him inquisitively.

“You good dude? Can’t tell if you just laughed or choked!” Killua cleared his throat awkwardly. 

“Yea bro, ‘m fine. Just uh- choked on my own spit. You know how it is.” Knuckle just nodded solemnly. 

They finally reached their seats, which were pretty nice ones thanks to Killua’s history with the arena. They were about four rows back from the main stage, which was still pretty far back considering the wide berth they had to give the fighters in case of shit flying out of the fighting area. Suddenly, a screen descended from the ceiling, accompanied by a booming voice.

“Attention spectators, the fight will be starting in five minutes!” The throngs of people all loudly conversing made it near impossible for Killua to hear anything. Knuckle and Leorio yelled to each other over Killua, who was sitting anxiously between them. _Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck I don’t think I can do this. If I see him out there waving to the crowd; waving to me, I’m going to fucking combust._ Killua stood abruptly, almost knocking out Leorio, who was leaning over him to talk to Knuckle about some expensive computer he really wanted.

“Fuck dude, ya almost broke my jaw! What’s the matter now? The match is about to start!”

“Sorry I gotta g-” Before Killua could move a muscle, Leorio grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him back into his seat. “That’s about enough of that shit. The world’s not ending, it’s just been a little while since you’ve seen him is all. It might be awkward for a minute, and weird to see him all grown up, but remember that he’ll probably be feeling the same way. So quit yer whining and watch the match.” Killua slumped back into his chair, thoroughly defeated by Leorio’s monologue.

“Ladies and gentlemen! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! Introducing the 240th floor master, and the youngest floor master to ever grace Heaven’s Arena at merely 17, Zushi!” A tall, serious looking young man with close cropped brown hair and tan skin stepped out onto the stage and smiled before bowing and yelling “OSU” towards the cheering crowd. The crowd, as if on cue, started chanting Zushi’s name before being quieted down by the announcer. _He must be a fan favorite. No surprise there._

“And now, introducing the challenger. You may recognize him, as this is not his first time in Heaven’s arena! He made his way to the 200th floor when he was only 12. Now, he’s won 10 consecutive fights on the 230-240 floor stack, and is ready to face the floor master.” The announcer paused for some dramatic flare, Killua guessed. The crowd roared, proving it worked. A blinding spotlight switched on. Killua squinted, blinking once. Twice. He rubbed his eyes. From a tunnel leading to the stage appeared a young man. He was outlined by the spotlight, making it look like he was glowing from within. 

“Your challenger, Gon Freecss!”

The spotlight suddenly switched off, but the arena stayed lit. The average spectator couldn’t tell the difference, but Killua knew it was Gon’s nen aura that kept the massive arena lit just as well as the brightest spotlight. _Showoff._ He switched off his ren, and under the fluorescent lighting Killua could see what everyone meant when they said Gon had grown up. It was hard to tell from the distance Killua was at, but he guessed that he was at least 6’ tall, and he had seriously filled out. _Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to compete with that guy now?_ Gon sprang up into the air a few times in what could be interpreted as jumps to warm up his body, but Killua knew he was probably just so excited for the upcoming fight that he couldn’t help himself. He made a mental note that; indeed, Gon was still wearing the same shorts that he had as an 11 year old. Mito-san must have made him a new pair, because the way that his thighs had bulked up in the past few years, he would’ve had to use nen to keep the old pair on. The damn near rippling muscles on his exposed arms made it obvious that he really had done nothing but train. Gon grinned gleefully at the audience, waving and- was he- throwing hand hearts out?? He sent one in a direction that was dangerously close to where Killua was sitting, and he nearly had to cover his face with a slender hand to hide the blush that spread across his pale cheeks. _Embarrassing._ He looked away and noticed to his chagrin that Leorio was looking right at him, smirking.

“Heh. Told you so”

_Well shit. Maybe those girls weren’t so crazy after all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh this guy's kinda short, but I wanted to get him out there bc the next chapter is likely going to take me a little bit. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think if you'd like! Also, if you want to find my sns I have an [art insta](https://www.instagram.com/ohrisart/) you can follow or message me there :3 also, i am trying not to respond to any comments although it’s quite tempting because i’ve heard it messes with the comment sorting search filter and counts as “cheating”. but just know that i read every comment and cry myself to sleep w gratefulness heeeh

**Author's Note:**

> My very first fic! :D I hope you liked it! Comment or kudos would be appreciated if you feel it's deserved, but not necessary. I just love my boys and they love each other and i want them to be reunited, so I'm pretty excited about where this is going!


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